Many electronic devices used for the capturing and consumption of content are equipped with a screen which is used to display the content. In some cases—in which such screen is a touch screen—the screen is also used as an input/control/operation/interaction mean for the electronic device.
The use of a screen unit (or a display unit) within an electronic device, has several drawbacks. First, a physical screen unit determines de-facto the size of the device. For example, a tablet with a 10″ screen has to be in a defined size, which is determined by the screen size, even if its bezel (or frame) size is significantly smaller.
Current efforts to develop flexible screens can mean that such screens might provide flexible display units, which still require storage for the flex display. Other solutions use projection of the content, instead, or as a complimentary mean, to a display unit. But such projectors require a surface on which this projection will be shown, thus limit the operational functionality of the device.
For example, Apple's patent application US20110197147 describes the integration of projectors into mobile electronic devices. Interaction with the projected content is detected by a camera, which monitors a hand movement or “touch” of the displayed content on a surface.